Customers who hope to buy enough from Amazon's website to garner free shipping are now facing a higher bar, as the giant retailer raised its minimum order size from $25 to $35. The change took effect Monday, as the busy holiday shopping season looms.
"This is the first time in more than a decade that Amazon has altered the minimum order for free shipping in the US," the company said in announcing the change.
The shift doesn't affect Amazon customers who use its Amazon Prime service, which provides free two-day shipping on many items, the company said. It used a large portion of its statement about the new policy to tout the benefits of being a Prime member.
"The service is so popular that more than a year ago we began shipping more items with Prime than with free shipping," Amazon says.
As a visit to its Web page explaining its standard shipping rates shows, Amazon has developed an intricate pricing system for shipping a single item or a single shipment of items. The prices fluctuate based on product type and other criteria.
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